It's been a while since we took a look at a hard drive dock here at BCCHardware, but to day we're looking at the new USB 3.0 dock from Thermaltake, The BlacX 5G HDD Docking Station.

The last hard drive dock we took a look at was the Thermaltake BlacX Duet HDD Docking station (full review can be found here). The similarities between the BlacX Duet and the BlacX 5G are abundant, however the big feature of the BlacX 5G is the addition of USB 3.0 which should significantly improve performance and it will be very interesting to see by how much performance is increased.

The BlacX 5G is USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 compatible, in this review we will test using both interfaces and show you just how much more performance USB 3.0 can provide over USB 2.0.

First Impressions:

There really isn't anything too out of the ordinary to note with the Thermaltake BlacX 5G hard drive dock, when compared to other docks from Thermaltake its pretty similar in looks.

Packaging

Packaging

As you can see in the pictures below this docks is compatible with both 2.5 and 3.5 inch hard drives.

Top View

Rear View

The accessories included with the BlacX 5G are also pretty standard (pictured below, right). The only thing our of the ordinary is the inclusion of 2 rubber hard drive "jackets". I'm assuming these "jackets" are supposed to help protect your drive while inserting and reducing the drives into the BlacX 5G dock, however chances are good that you'll use them a couple times and then put them in a drawer as they are kinda annoying to be putting on your hard drives (especially if you are using multiple hard drives into your dock on a daily basis).

Everything else included with the BlacX 5G is pretty standard and is everything you need to get started.

Bottom View

Accessories

Drive Installed

Drive Installed

In the pictures below you can see the silicone (rubber) "jackets" that come included with the Thermaltake BlacX 5G HDD dock. I'm guessing most people will probably not use these jackets due to the annoyance of having to install and remove them every time you want to use another hard drive in your dock, but for someone who only uses a couple drives in this dock it might be a nice bonus feature that might protect your drive from a small accidental drop.

Silicon Jacket Installed

Silicone Jacket Installed

So there we go, that's what the Thermaltake BlacX 5G Hard Drive Docking station is all about, let's move onto the next section of our review.